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ADVANCED
NUCLEAR INDUSTRY
M AY 2 0 1 5
About Third Way
Third Way is a think-tank that answers Americas challenges with modern ideas aimed at the
center. We advocate for private-sector economic growth, a tough and smart centrist security
strategy, a clean energy revolution, and progress on divisive social issues, all through a
moderate-led U.S. politics.
We represent Americans in the vital centerthose who believe in pragmatic solutions and
principled compromise, but who too often are ignored in Washington.
Too often, our national debates are defined by the rigid or outdated orthodoxies of both the left
and right. This polarization leads to ideologically driven policies and political gridlock, and it
drowns out the voices of millions of Americans in the forgotten middle.
We believe there is a better way, a third wayone that discards the false choices presented
by both sides. This third way philosophy is ideal for fostering the most effective and emergent
approaches to major problemsones that can attract the plurality of citizens who represent the
political center and whose support is crucial to effective and credible governance.
Our ideas have been used by the President, members of Congress, governors, mayors and
countless political candidates. Based on our record, weve been labeled as the future of think
tanks, incorrigible pragmatists, radical centrists, and the best source for new ideas in
public policy.
Introduction 4
Advances in Design 11
Endnotes 13
Introduction
The American energy sector has experienced enormous technological innovation over the
past decade in everything from renewables (solar and wind power), to extraction (hydraulic
fracturing), to storage (advanced batteries), to consumer efficiency (advanced thermostats).
What has gone largely unnoticed is that nuclear power is poised to join the innovation list.
A new generation of engineers, entrepreneurs and investors are working to commercialize
innovative and advanced nuclear reactors.
This is being driven by a sobering realitythe need to add enough electricity to get power to
the 1.3 billion people around the world who dont have it while making deep cuts in carbon
emissions to effectively combat climate change.
Third Way has found that there are more than 40 companies, backed by more than $1.3 billion
in private capital, developing plans for new nuclear plants in the U.S. and Canada. The mix
includes startups and big-name investors like Bill Gates, all placing bets on a nuclear comeback,
hoping to get the technology in position to win in an increasingly carbon-constrained world.
This report introduces you to the advanced nuclear industry in North America. It includes the
most comprehensive set of details about whos working on these reactor designs and where.
We describe the money and momentum building behind advanced nuclear, and how the
technology has evolved since the Golden Age of Nuclear.
To be clear, this is not your grandfathers nuclear technology. While developers in some cases
are working off of technology designs conceived in our national laboratories during the 1950s
and 1960s, the small modular reactor (SMR) technologies being developed are safer, more
efficient and need a fraction of the footprint compared to the nearly 100 light water reactors
(LWRs) that provide almost 20% of the U.S.s electricity today (and 65% of its carbon-free
power). New plants could be powered entirely with spent nuclear fuel sitting at plant sites
across the country, built at a lower cost than LWRs and shut down more easily in an emergency.
The need for nuclear power has never been clearer. To stem climate change, the world needs 40%
of electricity to come from zero-emissions sources, according to the International Energy Agency
(IEA). While we can and must grow renewable energy generation, it alone will leave us far short of
meeting that demand, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have said. This is why the IPCC in November issued an
urgent call for more non-emitting power, including the construction of more than 400 nuclear plants
in the next 20 years. That would represent a near doubling of the 435 plants operating globally today.
Nuclear power is on the cusp on a comeback. The technology may be the best opportunity we
have to address climate change and meet the worlds growing energy needs.
Starcore Nuclear
NuScale
Integral MSR
SMART TAP
FHR
Leadir-PS100 Widtronix
Fusion RADIX
Science Center
Lawrenceville Plasma Physics
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
STAR Lightbridge
PB-FHR G4M X-Energy
University of ARC-100
National Ignition Missouri Lockheed Martin
Thorenco DOE Next Gen
ENHS SC-HTGR
UPower L-ESSTAR Reactor Design Types
Hybrid SMR
GEMSTAR
Molten Salt Reactor
General Atomics SmATHR PRISM
Fluoride Salt-cooled High
Tri Alpha mPower Temperature Reactor
TPS Z Machine
EM2 and MHR LFTR Liquid Metal-cooled Fast Reactor
High Temperature Gas Reactor
Pebble Bed Reactor
Nuclear Battery Reactor
2015 Third Way. Free for re-use with attribution/link. Concept by Samuel Brinton. Infographic by Clare Jackson.
North American Advanced Reactor Projects
Company Location Design Type
There is a range of
Most are similar to
Uses water to cool designs with coolants
LWRs but have been
Design Features uranium fission ranging from water to
reduced in size and
reactions molten salt to liquid
complexity
metal and even gases
A range of 800 MWe to Many designs are less Scalable from 2 MWe5
Size2
1600 MW3 than 300 MWe4 to 1200 MWe
Estimated between
$2600 to $66007 with Estimated at $3200 to
Cost to Construct $250011 to $390012
averages at around $163009 with average
($/kWe)6 though early in
$40008 at $4,00010
estimation
Light
Water Reacto
r m a ll Mod u l a r R ea c
tor A d va n
c e d R ea c t o r
S
Most are similar Uses coolants
Uses water to cool to LWRs but have ranging from water to
uranium fission been reduced in size molten salt to liquid
reactions and complexity metal and even gases
Needs an operator Can shut down Can be
to shut-down without an operator walk away safe
Requires uranium Requires slightly more Can use enriched &
enrichment fuel with uranium depleted uranium, or
enrichment used nuclear fuel
2015 Third Way. Free for re-use with attribution/link. Concept by Samuel Brinton. Infographic by Clare Jackson.
Endnotes
1. Charles Forsberg, The advanced high-temperature reactor: high-temperature fuel, liquid salt coolant, liquid-
metal-reactor plant, Progress in Nuclear Energy, Volume 47, Issue 1, 2005, pg 32-43. Print.
2. This is measured in Megawatts-electric (MWe). One MWe can roughly power 1,000 homes.
3. John Deutch et al., Update of the MIT 2003 Future of Nuclear Power, Report, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Energy Initiative, 2009. Accessed March 13, 2015. Available at: http://web.mit.edu/nuclearpower/
pdf/nuclearpower-update2009.pdf .
4. Mario D. Carelli et al., Economic features of integral, modular, small-to-medium size reactors Progress in
Nuclear Energy, Volume 52, Issue 4, 2010, p. 403-414.
5. Kyle Russell, YC-Backed UPower Is Building Nuclear Batteries, TechCrunch, August 18, 2014. Accessed March
13, 2015. Available at: http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/yc-backed-upower-is-building-nuclear-batteries/.
6. This is the estimated overnight cost in $/kWe (dollars per kilowatt-electric).
7. Ahmed Abdulla, Ins Lima Azevedo, and M. Granger Morgan, Expert assessments of the cost of light water
small modular reactors, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 110, Issue 24, 2013, p.
9686-9691. Accessed March 13, 2015. Available at: http://www.pnas.org/content/110/24/9686.abstract
8. John Deutch et al., Update of the MIT 2003 Future of Nuclear Power, Report, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology Energy Initiative, 2009. Accessed March 13, 2015. Available at: http://web.mit.edu/nuclearpower/
pdf/nuclearpower-update2009.pdf .
9. Ahmed Abdulla, Ins Lima Azevedo, and M. Granger Morgan, Expert assessments of the cost of light water
small modular reactors, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 110, Issue 24, 2013, p.
9686-9691. Accessed March 13, 2015. Available at: http://www.pnas.org/content/110/24/9686.abstract
10. Eric Wesoff, NuScale Progresses with Small Modular Nuclear Reactors, GreenTech Media, May 25, 2010,
Accessed March 13, 2015. Available at: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nuscale-progresses-
with-small-modular-nuclear-reactors
11. Robert E. Chaney, et al. Galena Electric Power a Situational Analysis, Draft Final Report, Prepared for the
U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, December 15, 2004, Accessed March
13, 2015. Available at: http://www.uxc.com/smr/Library%5CDesign%20Specific/4S/Papers/2004%20-%20
Galena%20Electric%20Power%20-%20A%20Situational%20Analysis.pdf
12. Transatomic Power, Technical White Paper, V 1.0.1, March 2014, http://transatomicpower.com/white_papers/
TAP_White_Paper.pdf
13. Ray Henry, Construction time uncertain for Vogtle nuclear project, PennEnergy, August 29, 2014, Accessed
March 13, 2015. Available at: http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2014/08/construction-time-
uncertain-for-vogtle-nuclear-project.html
14. Kristi Swartz, Timeline for U.S.s newest reactor stretches into 2019, E&E News, January 30, 2015, Accessed
March 13, 2015. Available at: http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060012611
15. Ondrey,Modular design would shorten construction times for nuclear plants, Chemical Engineering, Volume
116, Issue 10, p. 16.
16. Transatomic Power, Technical White Paper, V 1.0.1, March 2014, Available at: http://transatomicpower.com/